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Comment by jsprinkles | Hacker News Reader

In this case, there are legal repercussions and serious consequences to doing most of things on this page. This is stuff to talk about with a lawyer, not the fucking Internet, and the person I replied to is already giving frighteningly bad advice.

You know how in criminal proceedings, they say "anything you say can and will be used against you?" It's the exact same for civil actions like this, which is why Public Relations 101 (which should be of interest to most in this audience who want to do their own startup) says "being sued or otherwise challenged legally? STFU. No comment."

This isn't about credentials, it's about being smart when it comes to threats that can genuinely hose your business, and not listening to a bunch of armchair lawyers on HN who think they have the best course of action without any sort of context.

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Let me start by saying: OP should get a lawyer -- like yesterday -- if he cares about the future of his company. Now, moving on...

> In this case, there are legal repercussions and serious consequences to doing most of things on this page. This is stuff to talk about with a lawyer, not the fucking Internet, and the person I replied to is already giving frighteningly bad advice.

There are legal repercussions and serious consequences to many choices we make in life; while this is a particularly tricky terrain to navigate, that doesn't mean he should go in completely blind. If you think that the advice is "frighteningly bad", point out specifics.

> This isn't about credentials, it's about being smart when it comes to threats that can genuinely hose your business, and not listening to a bunch of armchair lawyers on HN who think they have the best course of action without any sort of context.

This isn't a conversation you're engaging in; you're simply shouting down the parent(s). That's not what HN is all about. Please rethink your approach and come back to this from a constructive angle; it sounds like you have valuable knowledge that could come in handy for OP and others, but you can't see past "holy crap, legal advice on the internet!"

My valuable knowledge is that this discussion shouldn't be happening, because I've seen firsthand what an Internet comment can do legally, both to plaintiff and defendant. So yes, I would prefer it be shot down. I am not legally permitted to discuss the cases in question nor provide specifics of my knowledge, nor will I create liability for myself by refuting specific legal advice being given in this thread.

In that case, might I suggest you end this thread now? Comments on HN should be submitted when they add value; if you're not willing to actually participate in a conversation and attempt to add value, I'd say that the comments have little to no place on the site. Especially in the other parts of the thread where you and another commenter got into it and it ended with "Fuck you."

As mentioned above, jsprinkles is adding value to the discussion by explaining that this discussion should not happen here. Clearly he has experience in the matter. You act as if he is being malicious towards the OP by trying to shout down the advice of non-lawyers. He is, in fact, trying to help OP by doing the same.

I would say if he really wanted just to help, he could of stopped after the first comment he left. That was him helping, the rest I'm not so sure about.

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